Echo
by Asymia
Summary: "Drew obviously wasn't who she thought he was. And if that horrifying revelation was true, who was Brianna?" Based  LOOSELY  upon Greek myth "Echo and Narcissus." Minor CS. Rated T for Language.


**This was born from a sudden burst of inspiration due to the song "Echo" by Incubus about ten minutes ago. If you're unfamiliar with the Greek myth "Echo and Narcissus," I suggest you read up a bit on that first. Most of the story had to be severely modernized due to obvious reasons, but I tried to give some idea of where my story is in comparison to the actual tale via page breaks.**

**Brianna and Drew are not a favorite ship of mine, and I don't really think they could ever work. Therefore, I don't consider this a romance. But, I thought this too good an idea to pass up. I'm afraid the characters are probably OOC, but my main focus was to get them to seem realistic at all in the first place.**

**Disclaimer: I do not own pokemon. If I did, this would be somewhere else. I do not own the basic tragedy of Echo and Narcissus, either. Not entirely sure who actually gets to say they do own that one, actually…**

_Xx_**Xx** XxEchoxX **xX **_xX_

Drew waited until he was absolutely positive May and her numerous idiotic boyfriends had left the human wing of the pokemon center before he slipped into Room 214. His emerald eyes swept across the sparse furniture surrounding the cot to make absolute sure he was alone when he did this before resting upon the cot itself.

And there she was, exactly as he remembered her. Arceus, the girl still looked so much like her older sister, Soledad. What made her think she had even a sporting chance fooling anyone?

Drew took a few more steps towards the foot of the hospital bed. Yes, her appearance hadn't changed a bit. But her personality however, that had made a drastic turn for the worst.

Drew saw this happen all the time with his fan girls, but _when_ exactly did it happen? When did sparkling little Julia, the girl who, unbeknownst to herself, had shown potential to trump even her sister's abilities one day, turn into this Brianna, a girl who was nothing but a copy of all that she held to be trendsetting?

When was the precise moment she tried to throw out everything that made up who she was and choose to dive into obsessions she hadn't even had before?

"Drew," Julia, _Brianna,_ sighed blissfully, taking Drew out of his thoughts. "I _knew_ you'd come." She sat up straight in bed like a little kid who had just remembered it was Christmas. Drew figured that probably couldn't be good for her dizzy spells he knew she'd been having since she was very young, something Soledad had told him a few years back. "You did it on purpose, didn't you? You said those things to make me faint, so I would be sent here, so you could get me to yourself, where we could be all alone! Come here, come sit down!" She patted an uncomfortable looking wooden chair next to the cot.

But Drew kept his feet planted firmly where they stood. "Julia," he said, voice even. Fear flickered through her eyes before he saw the walls come up, the mask paint her face. She opened her mouth and he knew she was about to ask him what he was talking about. But he cut her off first. This had to stop. "You think I didn't recognize those contest techniques? Hell, those might have been my pokemon breeds, but that was definitely your style. Where _are_ your original pokemon anyway?" He scoffed. He knew his voice was too harsh, that he was hurting her. But that didn't matter.

He continued, "I'm guessing you got rid of them like you got rid of yourself. Soledad know you've been doing that?" He gestured toward the bit of exposed skin on her upper thigh, laced with scars in several different stages of healing. "You're disgusting, nothing but an imitation of others," he forced himself to spit at her.

Drew flinched inwardly when he saw the tears begin to swim in her eyes, but he kept his expression steeled. He took this as his cue to leave, he wasn't sure he could keep up the air of arrogance if she started bawling before him. Drew walked back to the door as calmly as if nothing happened. He stopped at the threshold to deliver the final blow, without looking back at her.

"And I didn't make you faint to get you here alone. I did it so I could speak to May without you butting in."

Drew quickly opened and closed the door behind himself, but not fast enough to hear the tortured sob come from her throat. Sinking to his knees in front of her door, he shed the overconfident expression and now wore the one he felt inside, a mixture of pain and confusion.

_This was necessary,_ he told himself. _If I didn't do it she would just keep ruining her chances at success by copying others. She needs to grow up. She needs to get herself back._

But now, hearing her misery, Drew began to doubt himself for the first time in his life. He glanced back at the doorknob. He did the right thing.

Right?

_Right, _he reassured himself before forcing himself to walk back down the hallway he came from.

_Xx_ **Xx** XxAphroditexX **xX** _xX_

_You're disgusting._

_An imitation of others._

_Julia._

For several hours, Brianna curled herself up in a little ball and cried over him, over herself, over everything.

She _hated _Julia. Julia was a girl who, try as she might, couldn't do a thing to get out of her sister's shadow. Julia was nothing but a cheap copy of Soledad, the original. Julia wasn't the favorite daughter, Julia wasn't the favorite friend, wasn't the favorite person.

Julia just _wasn't_.

And then she had seen the battle between Soledad and Drew, and Brianna was born. Drew had so much charisma, so many fans, so much potential. She wanted him, but more than that, she wanted to _be_ him.

So she cut off most of her hair, something she considered Soledad's anyway. The cut hadn't been too even, but she liked it. It was Brianna. She gave all her old pokemon away to newbie trainers, let _their_ dreams be crushed by the shitty creatures. Only once she was in possession of a young trapinch did the girl feel like she had a shot at being worth something, following in the footsteps of the wonderful mentor and future husband she had chosen. Everything was going swimmingly until that _bitch_ May had shown up and stolen his love. She had stolen everything. Brianna could even see it in the brunette's battling strategy; May was using some of Drew's bountiful skills too. No, May was _taking_ them. May didn't deserve his skills or his love, she hadn't done been there or done as much as Brianna had.

_But now…_

Drew obviously wasn't who she thought he was. And, if that horrifying revelation were true,

_Who_

_Was_

_Brianna?_

The girl began to feel the familiar tremors in her hands predicting an onset panic attack. The room suddenly seemed so much smaller than it had a few minutes ago. She needed air.

She felt like she was falling, but when she tried to scream, her voice was missing.

Similar to how many other things about her now proved to be missing.

It was then that she noticed the scissors left behind by the Nurse Joy who had last replaced Brianna's IV's. She reached out, seeking solace in the sharp, welcoming edges. She opened up the tool so that the scissor points made a wide V. Doing so made the twin blades look almost like arms, outstretched and perfectly willing to draw her into a warm embrace.

The magenta haired girl could really have gone for a hug just then. But still, the question lingered…

_If the inside of a person is missing, what happens to the body?_

She knew the answer almost immediately. The bodies were buried, or cremated. It wouldn't do to just let them clutter up everyone else's living space.

And it was then, gripping the jade handles of the scissors she had recently acquired, that she knew what to do with the body of Julia.

_Xx_ **Xx** XxNarcissusxX **xX** _xX_

It had been two months since Julia killed herself.

Eight solid weeks of grief and guilt for Drew. He had considered for six days going to the funeral, but ultimately decided it wasn't his place to be there. He hadn't wanted to see Soledad again either, for even though Julia's body had been cremated (it had been too marred by cuts for makeup to properly cover, were she to be shown in an open-casket funeral,) he would now forever see nothing but Julia in Soledad's features.

And not only in the features of Soledad, but Drew now saw potential Julia's in every single one of his fan girls. How long would it be until this happened again? Until another one of them were pushed over the edge with obsession? Were his dreams of being a Top Coordinator really worth putting all these lives at stake?

Drew wasn't certain about any of this anymore. Looking at the pitiful, undeserving teen in the mirror, Drew realized that there was only one thing clear now.

A part of him had died with her.


End file.
